Bretton Woods Conference

Bretton Woods Conference, formally United Nations Monetary and Financial Conference, meeting at Bretton Woods, N.H. (July 1–22, 1944), during World War II to make financial arrangements for the postwar world after the expected defeat of Germany and Japan.

The conference was attended by experts noncommittally representing 44 states or governments, including the Soviet Union. It drew up a project for the International Bank for Reconstruction and Development (IBRD) to make long-term capital available to states urgently needing such foreign aid, and a project for the International Monetary Fund (IMF) to finance short-term imbalances in international payments in order to stabilize exchange rates. ... (100 of 161 words)